I often get asked whether I think the CQEMBA is worth it. Of course, this a question I mulled over myself for quite some time before deciding to enroll. In truth, it is impossible to answer, and now that I'm here, I really don't give it much thought.

Yesterday, however, I had one of those moments that made me even more confident that attending Cornell and Queens was a great choice. I was looking over some information in one of our papers (I work for a printing and publishing company), and happened to glance at a tiny piece of info attached to one of our ads. This info is for "in house," and as such, provides no value whatsoever to the customer. In fact, it takes up so little space, I had never really given it much thought.

However, this time it jumped out at me for some reason. I looked at a few of them and realized that, occasionally, that small piece of info adds one more line to some of our classifieds. Not very often on a per ad basis, mind you, but occasionally none the less. My new found interest in statistics (thanks BDM and Roger Wright) and my new expertise in excel (thanks Rachel, although expertise may be pushing it), and I soon found myself counting and tracking the overall effect of this tiny, irrelevant data.

As I guessed, most of the time these little pieces of info have no effect whatsoever on our costs. Sometimes, however, they add up just enough to push a tight paper into the next size (which varies according to our publications). Just 4.33 times per year, out of 52 papers. This 4.33 times, however, across all our papers, was costing us almost $30,000 per year. The benefit to us - none (it was just a sort of left over from a past method). The benefit to the customer - none. A little more time looking into the numbers and making sure they were accurate (within 95% confidence - again thanks BDM), and we nixed them immediately.

Now it is hard to say for sure that I wouldn't have seen this anyway. It now seems pretty obvious and I can't believe I never noticed it before. But I didn't see it before. Nor did anyone of our 50 or so employees. Nor do the employees of numerous other papers that have the same pointless data - now painfully obvious for me to see.

Is it worth it? I don't know. I guess the better question is, does it make a difference? I can honestly say I already see things in a much different way than I did just a few short months ago. For me, that fact alone has made a huge difference.

For me, having to go to class this past Saturday was an agonizing form of torture. It wasn't that I dreaded the classes, mind you (we had Marketing and Finance, both of which I enjoy). It was the opportunity cost that I found most distressing. You see, as a Penn State graduate, Saturdays in the fall are for one thing and one thing only, and it certainly isn't reading. It's for football!

Now, I knew going in that I would miss some games. But this was Ohio State, and it was supposed to be 60 degrees and sunny, and I had tickets, and it was a white out.

A white out!

I realize a lot of people reading this post might be from another country, or might have gone to a college that has messed up values (like studying) and thus might miss the point. If you want to understand what football means to a Penn Stater, start by closing your eyes and imagining your favorite thing in the world. Try to picture it vividly in your mind.

Now stop, because your favorite thing isn't nearly as good as a white out at Beaver Stadium.

To add insult to injury, one of our professors that day taught at Ohio State for nearly 20 years and is (of course) a Buckeye fan. How could this happen?

Well, at least I could still be a fan. I brought seven Penn State shirts - one for each member of team Ithaca. Fortunately for me, everyone was willing to be a Penn State fan for a day (even Al, who visibly cringed at the mere thought of rooting for Penn State). So, of course, each time one of us called in with a comment, the Penn State logo was front and center. Luckily, the professor (Andrew Karolyi) was even a great sport about it! (Although, in truth, I've yet to see my grades.)

Then we got crushed, 24-7. Maybe class wasn't so bad after all.

Although this is my first official blog post, we're about three or so months into the program. It's amazing how much we've already covered. As I'm sure anyone who might be reading these blogs has heard, this program requires a large amount of time and effort. Yet somehow, the time seems to fly by.

I think one of the main reasons for this is the boardroom team format, and, for me in particular, the quality of all of my teammates. As I expected before I entered this program, everyone on my team is highly intelligent and successful in a wide array of fields and industries. This is, after all, a top MBA program, so I was sure all my classmates would be driven and extremely productive. For me, Team Ithaca certainly does not disappoint.

What I did not expect, however, was what a fun group this would turn out to be. All of my teammates share my childish and often warped sense of humor. This probably is not a good thing for them, but it is a huge relief to me! We've spent at least three or four hundred hours with each other so far, so I'm not sure how I could survive without a general sense of levity. Oddly, despite all this time together, I find myself missing the group on our weekends off.

I just finished up some work on our Business Decision Model's project. I find it easier to spend a few minutes in the middle of the day to work on an assignment when I can take a break from work. It helps break up the day a little, and I find solutions jump out when you look at them with fresh eyes rather than trying to attack entire projects all at once.

I don't have a lot of time for now, but I intend on recapping some of the highlights from before I was asked to do this blog when I get the chance - especially regarding my own application process and the opening two-week session.

When I first started selling advertising 16 years ago, I knew little about sales and even less about advertising.  I did know I had just dropped out of college, and had been handed a sales job which I didn't deserve and for which I was ill prepared.  I also knew it was my last chance to get my act together, and my performance would affect my family and all of our employees.  In a panic, I began to read everything I could about sales, marketing and advertising.

 I soon realized that two things would be key to success in sales. The first is talking and relating to customers on their level, about what interests them, and the second is plain old hustle.  My customers were business owners and managers, so the first rule meant that the conversations almost always ended up centering on business.  The second rule meant I saw a lot of customers, from all types of industries, with all kinds of backgrounds.

The more I learned about these businesses, the more interested I became in the choices these managers made and in the outcomes those decisions produced.   Over the years, I've had the chance to develop relationships with literally thousands of different business people from virtually every size and type of business.

I've seen businesses succeed and others fail.  I've seen strategies work great for years only to crash miserably when they weren't modified with the changing times.  I've seen the effect specific business practices can have on employees, customers, communities and even the environment.  Good business practices and strategies are most interesting because they matter, in real ways, to real people. 

The genuine curiosity and passion I developed through these experiences has been crucial to my success as a sales person, a sales manager and a business person.  This interest drove me back to college as an adult, made classes much more interesting and far more rewarding, and ultimately lead me to Cornell and Queens.  The more I see, the more I realize I need to learn and grow, especially in this changing environment.  In the CQEMBA, I'm anxious to gain more information, to hone new skills, and to meet new people with different perspectives from different backgrounds.  I look forward to sharing these experiences with you on my blog!